Department for Education

Pupils: Transgender People

Lord Pearson of Rannoch: To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Barran on 11 July (HL 8841), following the decision by the Teaching Regulation Authority to impose a prohibition order on Joshua Sutcliffe, whether they will publish guidance to clarify whether teachers may refer to pupils by their legal and biological gender.

Baroness Barran: The department recognises that gender is a complex and sensitive issue, and that some schools and colleges feel that they need more support in this area in order to help pupils, students and parents deal with concerns raised. That is why the department is working with the Minister for Women and Equalities to develop guidance to support schools and colleges in relation to gender questioning children.The department has committed to publishing a draft for consultation at the earliest opportunity.

Teachers: Labour Turnover and Recruitment

Lord Weir of Ballyholme: To ask His Majesty's Government what initiatives or incentives are planned to either attract new entrants into the profession of teaching or to ensure retention of teaching staff within the profession.

Baroness Barran: Education is a devolved matter. This response outlines the information for England only.Recent data shows that there are now over 468,000 full time equivalent (FTE) teachers in state-funded schools in England, an increase of 27,000 (6%) since 2010. This makes it the highest number of FTE teachers on record since the school workforce census began in 2010.The department’s reforms are aimed at increasing teacher recruitment and ensuring teachers across England stay and thrive in the profession. The Get Into Teaching service helps to make teaching a career of choice and supports candidates to apply for teacher training. Prospective trainees can access support and advice through expert one-to-one teacher training advisers, a contact centre, and a national programme of events. The teaching marketing campaign provides inspiration and support to explore a career in teaching and directs people to the Get Into Teaching service: https://getintoteaching.education.gov.uk/.The department is accepting in full the School Teachers’ Review Body’s recommendations for the 2023/24 pay award for teachers and leaders. This means that teachers and head teachers in maintained schools will receive a pay award of 6.5%, which is the highest pay award for teachers in over thirty years. This award also delivers the manifesto commitment of a minimum £30,000 starting salary for teachers in all regions in England, with a pay award of up to 7.1% for new teachers outside London.The department announced a financial incentives package worth up to £181 million for those starting initial teacher training (ITT) in the 2023/24 academic year. The department is providing bursaries worth up to £27,000 and scholarships worth up to £29,000 to encourage trainees to apply to train in key secondary subjects such as mathematics, physics, chemistry and computing.The department provides a levelling up premium worth up to £3,000 annually for mathematics, physics, chemistry and computing teachers in the first five years of their careers who work in disadvantaged schools nationally, including within education investment areas. The eligibility criteria and list of eligible schools is can be accessed at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/levelling-up-premium-payments-for-teachers.To support retention in the sector, the department has worked with schools and published a range of resources to help address staff workload and wellbeing and to support schools to introduce flexible working practices. This includes the Workload Reduction Toolkit and the Education Staff Wellbeing Charter. The workload reduction toolkit is accessible at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/school-workload-reduction-toolkit. The Charter is accessible at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/education-staff-wellbeing-charter. More than 2,700 schools have signed up to the Charter so far. The department will also convene a Workload Reduction Taskforce to explore how we can go further to support trusts and head teachers to minimise workload. The department wants to build on previous successes and aim to reduce working hours by five hours per week.

Refugees: Children

Lord Touhig: To ask His Majesty's Government what specialist support they offer to unaccompanied migrant children who have been arrested, including those who have been trafficked, to enable them to rebuild their lives.

Baroness Barran: The department takes the welfare of unaccompanied migrant children extremely seriously and we are committed to ensuring they are safe and secure. Local authorities have a duty to provide services to all children in need in their area. Under Section 20 of the Children Act 1989, those under the age of 18 arriving as unaccompanied asylum-seekers should enter the care of the local authority in which area they first present.All unaccompanied children, including those who have been arrested or trafficked, should be safeguarded and have their welfare promoted in the same way as any other looked-after child. Social Workers and other practitioners including police, health, education and youth offender services practitioners, and those who care for looked-after children, are encouraged to consider the full range of support available to looked after children in their areas, including that from community and other organisations.The provisions under the Modern Slavery Act 2015 ensure that if there is uncertainty over whether a potential victim of trafficking is a child or an adult, then that person is presumed to be a child and receives the appropriate support without delay. If practitioners have concerns that a child may be a potential victim of modern slavery or human trafficking, then a referral should be made to the National Referral Mechanism (NRM) as soon as possible. Guidance on making a referral can be found in the attached document. The NRM acts as a formal framework for first responders to identify potential victims of trafficking and assists with the provision of victim support. Like any other child in need, a trafficked child referred through the NRM should be safeguarded by the local authority on which the referral is made. Where it is evident that the child faces a significant risk of harm from the trafficker, appropriate arrangements will need to be put in place to keep the child safe from harm, and the child’s care plan should include such measures.In addition, the Home Office has rolled out Independent Child Trafficking Guardians (ICTGs) to two thirds of local authorities in England and Wales. In June 2023, the Minister for Safeguarding agreed to extend the current grant agreement to 31 March 2025, alongside working to deliver ICTG national rollout covering all of England and Wales. ICTGs are an additional source of advice and support for potentially trafficked children, and somebody who can advocate on their behalf to ensure their best interests are reflected in the decision-making processes undertaken by the public authorities who are involved in the child’s care. The support they provided is in addition to the statutory support provided to children by local authorities. Statutory guidance on roles and responsibilities of ICTGs is attached.National referral mechanism guidance  (pdf, 267.5KB)Child trafficking guidance  (pdf, 506.7KB)

Teachers: Training

Lord Boateng: To ask His Majesty's Government how many universities who lost accreditation in the Initial Teacher Training accreditation process received (1) good, or (2) outstanding, Ofsted ratings in the period since January 2022.

Lord Boateng: To ask His Majesty's Government how many accredited providers for the Initial Teacher Training (ITT) process received (1) requires improvement, or (2) inadequate, Ofsted ratings in the period since January 2022; and what assessment they have made of the credibility of the ITT accreditation process given those figures.

Baroness Barran: The current cycle of Ofsted inspections tests the effectiveness of existing Initial Teacher Training (ITT) provision in line with the principles set out in its Initial Teacher Education inspection framework. The accreditation process, undertaken jointly with Ofsted, assessed provider potential to deliver high-quality ITT in line with the new Quality Requirements from the 2024/25 academic year as recommended by the ITT market review, particularly the enhanced requirements around mentoring. These two processes are distinct and, therefore, Ofsted’s current inspection judgements and the accreditation against the new requirements from 2024 do not align in all instances.In respect of the providers accredited to deliver ITT from September 2024, 69 inspections have been carried out since January 2022. Of these, four received a ‘Requires Improvement’ judgement and one received an ‘Inadequate’ judgement in 2022. These five providers have since been reinspected by Ofsted in 2023 and judged as ‘Good’.Twelve universities were not successful in gaining accreditation to deliver ITT from September 2024, of which six were judged as ‘Good’, one was judged as ‘Requires Improvement’ and since improved to ‘Good’ on reinspection. Additionally, two were judged ‘Inadequate’, of which one has since improved to ‘Good’ with the other yet to be reinspected.

Apprentices

The Lord Bishop of St Albans: To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the percentage of school leavers who take up apprenticeships at age 16; and how many drop out at a later stage.

Baroness Barran: Available data on destinations of state-funded mainstream school leavers (after reaching the end of key stage 4, typically aged 16) shows that 2.4% of the cohort took up apprenticeships that were sustained for at least 6 consecutive months in the following academic year (2019/20 leavers’ active during 2020 to 2021 academic year). This was down from 3.7% in the previous year. The 2020 to 2021 academic year was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. More information is available in the attached table.Apprenticeship starts by age group for the 2020/21 and 2021/22 academic years are shown in the table below. To note, some young people may not immediately enter into an apprenticeship after leaving key stage 4 study. The total number of 16 to 18 year olds starting an apprenticeship in the 2021/22 academic year was 77,520. 2020/212021/22All age starts321,440349,19016-1865,15077,52019-2494,610106,33025+161,690165,340Apprenticeship retention and achievement rates by age group in 2020/21 and 2021/22 are shown in the table below. A number of factors may cause a learner not to complete or achieve their course, which could include learner dropout, change of employer or failure to pass end-point-assessment. For apprentices aged 16-18, the retention rate in 2021/22 was 54.8% and the achievement rate was 53.4%. Achievement RateRetention RateLeavers 2020/212021/222020/212021/222020/212021/22All age57.7%53.4%58.8%54.8%275,380263,55016-1859.5%55.2%60.7%56.8%66,95058,56019-2363.1%59.4%64.4%60.9%72,80070,07024+53.8%49.6%54.8%50.7%135,630134,920To note:Volumes in tables are rounded to the nearest 10 and percentages rounded to 1 decimal place.Achievement and retention rates are based on the Hybrid End Year, not academic year. The Hybrid End Year is the later of the Achievement Year, Expected End Year, Actual End Year or Reporting Year of a programme.Apprenticeship retention reflects the number of apprentices that reach the end of their apprenticeship but have yet to undergo end point assessment. Apprenticeship achievements reflect the number of apprenticeships that pass end point assessment. In both cases, the rates are given as a proportion of the cohort that leave or expect to leave their apprenticeship in the relevant year (the Hybrid End Year). Destination measures (xlsx, 26.0KB)

Apprentices

The Lord Bishop of St Albans: To ask His Majesty's Government how many people signed up for apprenticeships in (1) 2019, (2) 2020, (3) 2021, and (4) 2022.

Baroness Barran: The number of apprenticeship starts from the 2018/19 to 2021/22 academic years are available in the attached table. Apprenticeship starts (xlsx, 25.6KB)

Apprentices

The Lord Bishop of St Albans: To ask His Majesty's Government whatsteps they are taking to ensure that all apprenticeships receive the mandated off-the-job training entitlement.

Baroness Barran: The government has made significant reforms to the quality of apprenticeships to ensure they meet the needs of employers and bring wider benefits to the country and the economy. Apprenticeships have a minimum 12-month duration with more training (minimum 20% off-the-job) and are more rigorous and credible with employer led standards and independent end-point assessments.Off-the-job training is an essential component and a legal requirement of an apprenticeship, supporting apprentices to develop the skills and behaviours set out in the apprenticeship standard so they can achieve occupational competenceWhen employers recruit an apprentice, they enter a legally binding contract that requires compliance with the apprenticeship funding rules. These rules must be followed by both employers and apprenticeship training providers to receive funding for the training and assessment of apprentices in England. It is mandatory for all apprentices, regardless of their programme, to complete a minimum of 20% off-the-job training.To ensure that apprentices receive the required off-the-job training, providers must report both the planned and actual off-the-job training hours for every apprenticeship and the department conducts regular reviews of training provider activity through funding reports and quality assessment audits, taking necessary action to address providers found not to be following these rules.The department also support providers by promoting a better understanding of the apprenticeship funding rules through online webinars, publishing myth busters and detailed guidance on off the job training, plus supporting evidence templates.

Pupils: Absenteeism

The Earl of Clancarty: To ask His Majesty's Government what is the justification for imposing fines for absenteeism in schools; and whether they intend to review the use of this measure.

Baroness Barran: Absence is often a symptom of wider issues a family is facing. Schools, trusts and local authorities should always work together with other local partners to understand the barriers to attendance and provide support. Where support is not successful, not engaged with, or not appropriate, legal intervention remains an important part of local authorities’ powers to protect every child’s right to a full-time education.The department has consulted on a new framework to improve consistency and fairness in issuing penalty notices and to ensure they are used effectively as part of the suite of parental responsibility measures. The department will be responding to this consultation in due course.

Vocational Education

Lord McCrea of Magherafelt and Cookstown: To ask His Majesty's Government what further measures they will take to ensure practical, vocational training is available in each region of England.

Baroness Barran: Education is a devolved matter, and the response outlines the information for England only.The government’s skills reforms in England provide a ladder of opportunity that enables young people and adults to get good jobs and progress in their careers wherever they live in England. We are building a skills system that is employer focused, high-quality and fit for the future. It is also flexible enough to lead to more people completing high-quality courses that meet employers’ needs.£3.8 billion has been invested in the skills agenda over this Parliament. The department is using this to expand and strengthen higher and further education, ensuring skills training is aligned to the needs of employers to enable communities to thrive. With this investment, we are putting employers at the heart of our skills system. This is why we are working with industry to shape our training offers, creating more routes into skilled employment in key economic sectors.Apprenticeships provide people of all backgrounds across the country with the opportunity to earn and learn the skills needed to start, or progress in, an exciting career. We are increasing investment in apprenticeships to £2.7 billion by 2024/25, and employers have developed over 670 high-quality apprenticeships, to support all sectors to develop the skilled workforces they need. To support small and medium enterprises across the country, we continue to pay 95% of their apprenticeship training costs and have recently removed the limit on the number of apprentices they can recruit, making it easier for them to grow their businesses with the skilled apprentices they need.First introduced in 2020, T Levels are boosting access to high-quality technical education for young people after their GCSEs. Developed with employers so that the content meets the needs of industry, T Levels offer students a mixture of classroom learning and ‘on-the-job’ experience during an industry placement of at least 45 days. T Levels are being introduced in a phased approach, with 16 T Levels currently available and over 160 providers across the country delivering.The Free Courses for Jobs offer, which was launched in April 2021, allows eligible adults to access over 400 level 3 qualifications, A level equivalent, for free. Eligible adults include adults without a full level 3, adults earning under the National Living Wage annually (£20,319 from April 2023) or unemployed adults, regardless of their prior qualification level.Skills Bootcamps are free, flexible courses of up to 16 weeks giving people the opportunity to build up sector-specific skills, with an offer of a job interview with an employer on completion. Skills Bootcamps are available in a variety of skill areas including digital, technical, construction, logistics (HGV driving), and skills that support the green economy. We are scaling up Skills Bootcamps delivery to 64,000 starts by the 2024/25 financial year through national procurement and grant funding to 25 Mayoral Combined Authorities and local areas.High-quality careers information, advice and guidance is key to helping people to make informed decisions about their future, including being able to find out about and consider the different options available to them for employment in all sectors. The Careers & Enterprise Company (CEC) is supporting schools and colleges to embed best practice in the delivery of careers information, advice and guidance. This allows young people to be aware of the full range of training and careers available to them and to have access to a broad range of employers and workplaces.We plan to invest £300 million of capital funding to establish 21 Institutes of Technology (IoTs) across the country providing access to industry standard facilities which focus on the needs of employers and learners in their specific geographical areas. IoTs are employer-led provider organisations working in collaboration with colleges and universities, which deliver higher technical training, with the focus on level 4-5 skills.

Pupils: Transgender People

Lord Blencathra: To ask His Majesty's Government what stepsthey will take to ensure that teachers who assist a pupil under the age of 18 with changing their gender, without parental information or consent, are prosecuted for child abuse.

Baroness Barran: The department is working with the Minister for Women and Equalities to develop non statutory guidance to support schools in relation to children who are questioning their gender. It is the department’s intention that the guidance will cover a comprehensive set of relevant topics to provide clarity to schools and teachers on how to respond to children who are questioning their gender. This work is based upon the principle of protecting children and ensuring their safety and as such it will reflect the existing laws and duties placed on schools.These decisions must not be taken lightly or in haste, and so it is vital that the guidance published by the department gives clarity for schools and colleges and reassurance for parents. Therefore, it is important that the department is able to consider a wide range of views in order to get the guidance right, so it has committed to holding a full public consultation on the draft guidance prior to publication, at the earliest opportunity.In the meantime, schools and colleges should proceed with extreme caution. They should always involve parents in decisions relating to their child and should not agree to any changes that they are not absolutely confident are in the best interests of that child and their peers. They should prioritise safeguarding by meeting their existing legal duties to protect single sex spaces and maintain safety and fairness in single sex sport.The Department’s statutory guidance ‘Working Together’ and ‘Keeping Children Safe in Education’, which can both be found attached, already sets out the legal responsibilities and duties placed on professionals and schools in relation to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children. These are sensitive cases which require professional judgement that takes account of the factors in each particular case. Working together guidance (pdf, 1051.3KB)KCSIE guidance  (pdf, 1212.2KB)

Care Leavers

The Lord Bishop of St Albans: To ask His Majesty's Government what programmes exist to support 18 year olds leaving the care system.

Baroness Barran: As set out in the Children Act 1989, local authorities have the primary responsibility for supporting care leavers. The 2017 Children and Social Work Act imposed a new duty on local authorities to consult on and publish their ‘local offer’ for care leavers, setting out their legal entitlements and any further discretionary support that the local authority provides, such as Council Tax exemptions.All care leavers up to the age of 25 are entitled to support from a personal adviser to help with access support from mainstream services, such as housing, health, and benefits. Personal advisors also provide practical and emotional support to help them prepare for and cope with the challenges of living independently.The department is providing over £230 million over this spending review to support young people leaving care with housing, access to education, employment, and training, and to help them develop social connections and networks to avoid loneliness and isolation.To support young people leaving the care system the department has:Launched the care leaver covenant. 400 businesses are signed up and are offering opportunities to care leavers. Businesses include John Lewis, Sky and Amazon.Established the Civil Service care leaver internship scheme, which has led to over 880 care leavers taking up paid jobs across government.Committed £8 million since October 2021 to run a pilot in 58 local authority areas, for virtual school heads to use Pupil Premium Plus (PP+) to provide targeted support to looked-after children and care leavers in further education. The department will provide a further £24 million of PP+ funding between 2023 and 2025 to expand this programme.Increased the Leaving Care Allowance from £2,000 to £3,000 from 1 April 2023 to enable the young person to furnish their first home.Committed to increasing the care leaver apprenticeship bursary from August 2023 from £1,000 to £3,000. Local authorities must provide a £2,000 bursary for care leavers who go to university.The department is providing £99.8 million to local authorities to increase the number of care leavers that stay living with their foster families in a family home up to the age of 21 through the ‘Staying Put’ programme.The department are providing £53 million to increase the number of young people leaving residential care who receive practical help with move-on accommodation, including ongoing support from a keyworker, through the ‘Staying Close’ programme.The department are providing an additional £3.2 million to local authorities per year to provide extra support to care leavers at highest risk of rough sleeping.Our ambitions for reform, set out in the ‘stable homes, built on love’ strategy and consultation, put loving and stable relationships at the heart of children’s social care. This includes the mission that by 2027, every care-experienced child and young person will feel that they have strong, loving relationships in place.As outlined in ‘stable homes, built on love’ the department is providing over £30 million in the next two years to significantly increase the number of local authorities with family finding, befriending and mentoring programmes. The department also wants to increase the accessibility and take-up of the Independent Visitors offer by working with the sector to reinforce current good practice and developing standards for Independent Visitor services. Additionally, the department is assessing levels of interest in introducing a way for care-experienced people to legally formalise a lifelong bond with someone they care about, such as a former foster carer or family friend. The ‘stable homes, built on love’ consultation is attached.stable homes built on love consultation  (pdf, 1604.6KB)

Schools and Teachers: Harassment

Lord Pearson of Rannoch: To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer byBaroness Barran on 13 July (HL8942), how many incidents of bomb threats to schools or death threats to teachers there have been in the past 10 years; and how many of those threats were made by Islamist individuals or groups.

Baroness Barran: The department is unable to comment on individual cases as the police are responsible for investigating such incidents and will take action where they deem appropriate.Where the department is made aware of incidents of this nature, the local authority and the police will be engaged where appropriate to seek assurances and offer support to schools.The department’s school and college security guidance provides advice and support to the sector including how to deal with bomb threats. The guidance is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-and-college-security.

Apprentices

Baroness Wolf of Dulwich: To ask His Majesty's Government how many apprenticeships started at (1) Level 6, and (2) Level 7, in (a) 2020–21, and (b) 2021–22, by individuals who already hold qualifications at this level; and of those, how many also had university degrees.

Baroness Barran: The department does not hold representative data on prior qualifications held by apprentices, as this is not information that is mandatory for training providers to submit through an apprentice’s individual learner record. The department will only fund apprentices to undertake an apprenticeship at the same or lower level than a qualification they already hold if the apprenticeship allows the individual to acquire substantive new skills, and the provider can show that the content of the training is materially different from any prior qualification. This is to ensure that the department is not funding any duplication in training.The department has seen year-on-year growth of degree level apprenticeships (Levels 6 and 7) with over 190,000 starts since their introduction in the 2014/15 academic year. An additional £40 million is being provided over the next two years to support degree apprenticeship providers to expand and help more people access this provision, on top of the £8 million investment in 2022/23.

Pupils: Absenteeism

Lord Weir of Ballyholme: To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking toensure dissemination of best practice between schools and education authorities on combating pupil absenteeism.

Baroness Barran: Regular attendance at school is vital for pupils’ education, wellbeing, and long-term development. To support stronger attendance, the department has a comprehensive attendance strategy in place to ensure that absence is minimised.Last year, the department published new attendance guidance setting out stronger and clearer expectations for how schools, trusts and local authorities should work together to address barriers to pupil attendance. These expectations were based on key best practice approaches that schools and local authorities use to improve or sustain attendance levels.At a national level, the Secretary of State has also established an alliance of national leaders from education, children’s social care and allied services to work together to raise school attendance, reduce persistent absence, and share good practice approaches.The department has also facilitated a series of webinars for schools, trusts and Local Authorities sharing effective approaches to improving attendance which have been cumulatively viewed nearly 50,000 times. The webinars are recorded and available for viewing here: https://www.gov.uk/government/case-studies/improving-attendance-good-practice-for-schools-and-multi-academy-trusts.The department has also recently launched a number of school attendance hubs. Attendance hubs are led by senior leaders in schools with strong attendance practice, in some of the largest trusts in the country. As part of the hubs programme, lead schools extensively share their strategies and resources for improving attendance through regular meetings with other schools. The department has announced nine new attendance hubs which will be supporting hundreds of schools, and the department intend to scale up the hubs programme in the autumn term of next year.Finally, the department has also deployed ten expert attendance advisers who, so far, are working with 115 local authorities and 45 trusts to develop effective attendance improvement action plans.

Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office

Nigeria: Violence

Baroness Cox: To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact ofviolence in Nigeria on (1) international trade and business, and (2) the potential for further division leading to civil war.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: 2022 was one of the worst years on record for levels of conflict and political violence deaths in Nigeria. This is detrimental to the country's stability, hinders growth, and deters international trade, business, and investment despite Nigeria's vast economic potential. Through our UK-Nigeria Security and Defence Partnership, we are committed to supporting efforts to tackle insecurity and secure a safe and prosperous Nigeria. The UK continues to encourage the Nigerian Government to assist affected communities and implement long-term solutions.

Nigeria: Security

Baroness Cox: To ask His Majesty's Government what representationsthey will make to the government of Nigeria (1) to co-operate with local leaders in the deployment of security forces, and (2) to monitor the forces’ activities.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: The UK is committed to supporting Nigeria tackle rising insecurity through our UK-Nigeria Security and Defence Partnership. How the Government of Nigeria deploys its security forces and monitors the forces' activities are both matters for the Nigerian Government. However, the UK continues to encourage the Nigerian Government to assist conflict-affected communities. The UK military's engagement with Nigeria's security forces includes an emphasis on the importance of human security and civil-military coordination on operations.

Nigeria: Emergency Services

Baroness Cox: To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have tofund civil society organisations in Nigeria who provide emergency assistance to civilians.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: The UK funds civil society organisations to provide assistance to people displaced by conflict and violence across Nigeria, so they have access to food, healthcare and nutrition, and protection and water. Through the UK's Humanitarian Assistance and Resilience Programme we have provided over £53 million since 2022 to civil society organisations and the UN to support the humanitarian response in North East Nigeria, and have allocated a further £7.45 million for this financial year. The UK also contributes to the START Fund which provides funding to organisations helping people affected by conflict, flooding and cholera outbreaks, as well as the Red Cross Disaster Response Emergency Fund.

Jerusalem: Evictions

Baroness Janke: To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the statement made by the UN on 12 July that: "The forced eviction and displacement of the Ghaith-Sub Laban family and many other Palestinian families in east Jerusalem may amount to a war crime of forcible transfer".

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: The UK is clear that in all but the most exceptional of circumstances, demolitions and evictions are contrary to international humanitarian law. As David Rutley, Minister of State for the Americas and the Caribbean said in Parliament on 18 July, the practice causes unnecessary suffering and is harmful to efforts to promote peace. The UK is appalled by the eviction of the Ghaith-Sub Laban family from their home of over 70 years in the Old City of Jerusalem. Any judgment on whether serious crimes under international law have occurred is a matter for judicial decision, rather than for governments or non-judicial bodies.

Windsor Framework

Baroness Hoey: To ask His Majesty's Government how many memberssit on each of the sub-groups established under the Joint Consultative Working Group of the Windsor Framework; and who they are.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: The structured sub-groups of the Joint Consultative Working Group are co-chaired by a designated official from the lead UK Government department and European Commission Directorate-General respectively. Where appropriate and by decision of the co-chairs, experts or other persons who are not members of delegations may be invited to attend meetings of the working group in order to provide information on a particular subject. As with the meetings themselves, the delegations for each structured sub-group are confidential unless otherwise decided by the co-chairs.

Cyprus: Travel

Lord Rogan: To ask His Majesty's Government what logistical support, if any, they are providing to Turkish Cypriots wishing to travel to the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus from the UK.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: In accordance with the rest of the international community, with the sole exception of Turkey, the UK does not recognise the self-declared 'Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus' as an independent state. The United Kingdom recognises the Republic of Cyprus as the sovereign authority for the island of Cyprus. The FCDO publishes travel advice which provides guidance on the most relevant issues for British nationals visiting or resident in Cyprus. This includes information for those travelling to the north of Cyprus.

Ukraine: Children

Lord McCrea of Magherafelt and Cookstown: To ask His Majesty's Government what action they propose to take to investigate alleged forceful displacement of thousands of Ukrainian children to Belarus.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: There is growing evidence, confirmed by the Belarusian authorities and Belarusian Red Cross, that Ukrainian children are being sent to so-called "recreation camps" in Belarus. We are following closely the investigations launched by the Lithuanian and Ukrainian authorities into the nature of these child transfers, and the experience of children while in Belarus, including allegations regarding the political and military indoctrination of Ukrainian children. We call upon Belarus to ensure that no Ukrainian children are forcibly transferred to its territory, and continue to condemn Belarus's facilitation of Russian aggression against Ukraine.

UK Internal Trade: Northern Ireland

Lord Weir of Ballyholme: To ask His Majesty's Government when they intend to end grace periods for movement of goods from Great Britain to Northern Ireland, following the agreement of the Windsor Framework.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: The new arrangements under the Windsor Framework will be phased in over nearly two and half years. The operational easements under the current standstill continue to apply in Northern Ireland until they are replaced. Further details on guidance will continue to be published in line with our commitments to implementing the Windsor Framework.

Ukraine: Children

Lord Alton of Liverpool: To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of recent reports that over 2,000 Ukrainian children have been forcibly deported to Belarus since September 2022.

Lord Alton of Liverpool: To ask His Majesty's Government whatassessment they have made of reports that some of the Ukrainian children allegedly deported to Belarus have been given military training.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: There is growing evidence, confirmed by the Belarusian authorities and Belarusian Red Cross, that Ukrainian children are being sent to so-called "recreation camps" in Belarus. We are following closely the investigations launched by the Lithuanian and Ukrainian authorities into the nature of these child transfers, and the experience of children while in Belarus, including allegations regarding the political and military indoctrination of Ukrainian children. We call upon Belarus to ensure that no Ukrainian children are forcibly transferred to its territory, and continue to condemn Belarus's facilitation of Russian aggression against Ukraine.

Development Aid: Malnutrition

The Earl of Dundee: To ask His Majesty's Government how much funding they intend to allocate towards reducing world malnutrition.

The Earl of Dundee: To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to help prevent malnutrition globally.

The Earl of Dundee: To ask His Majesty's Government what targets they have set for the reduction of world malnutrition (1) between 2023 and 2025, and (2) between 2025 and 2030.

The Earl of Dundee: To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to help coordinate efforts to tackle malnutrition within countries with high levels of malnutrition,including the 15 worst affected countries.

The Earl of Dundee: To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had on reducing world malnutrition with (1) G7 member states, (2) the World Food Programme, and (3) UNICEF.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: FCDO is implementing our 2021 Nutrition for Growth commitment to spend at least £1.5 billion between 2022 and 2030 on addressing the nutrition needs of mothers, babies and children, tackling malnutrition in humanitarian emergencies, integrating nutrition into multiple sectors including health, climate and economic development partnerships and making sure nutrition is central to the FCDO's wider work.The UK encourages governments in countries with a high burden of malnutrition to allocate additional public resources in order to meet the 2025 World Health Assembly and 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) targets.FCDO has ongoing discussions with G7 partners as well as multilateral agencies, including the World Food Programme and UNICEF through the Scaling Up Nutrition movement. In addition, Andrew Mitchell, Minister for Development and Africa, co-chairs the Action Review Panel (ARP) on child wasting alongside the United States and UNICEF. The ARP coordinates collective action on reducing severe acute malnutrition.To move the dial on world hunger, the UK is hosting an event in the Autumn on tackling hunger and malnutrition.

Occupied Territories: Health Services

Baroness Janke: To ask His Majesty's Government what assessments they have made of the reported attacks on healthcare facilities in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

Baroness Janke: To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking, in partnership with the international community, to protect Palestinian civilians and healthcare personnel.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: The work of healthcare workers across the globe is vital and they must be protected when carrying out their critical work. During his call on 4 July with the Israeli chargé d'affaires in London, the Minister of State for the Middle East, Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon, urged Israel to safeguard access to healthcare and take proactive steps to guarantee the safety of civilians during Israeli operations in the West Bank. When the Foreign Secretary spoke with Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen on July 5, he raised the UK's concerns about attacks on civilian infrastructure during their recent operation in Jenin.

China: Development Aid

Lord Alton of Liverpool: To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the Independent Commission for Aid Impact's report UK’s aid engagement with China A further update,published in July; how much UK aid has been spent in the China in the past 12 months; what estimate they have made of the size of the Chinese economy compared with the UK's; andwhat plans they have toaddress the Commission's finding that there is limited transparency over where UK aid is being spent in China.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: China has the world's second largest economy, after the US, when measured by nominal GDP. Its GDP is almost 6 times larger than the UK. However, taking into account China's large population of 1.4 billion, UK's GDP per capita is over 3 times larger than that of China. We are aware of the Independent Commission for Aid Impact (ICAI)'s report. The UK stopped all direct aid to the Chinese Government in 2011. The FCDO has cut Official Development Aid (ODA) funded programmes in China by 95 per cent from the 2021-22 financial year. All new ODA programming has been limited to supporting activities that further our open societies and human rights objectives in China. HMG's final 2022 ODA spend, including country data, will be published in the 'Statistics on International Development: Final UK Aid Spend' in autumn 2023. We remain committed to transparency and the FCDO will continue to work closely with the ICAI to ensure that all UK aid spending maintains our high standards and has the greatest impact.

Ukraine: Children

Lord Alton of Liverpool: To ask His Majesty's Government, followingthe issuing of International Criminal Court arrest warrants for Vladimir Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova for alleged war crimes following forced deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia, what discussions they (1) are having, or (2) intend to have, with the ICC about similar charges being brought against Alexander Lukashenko.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: The International Criminal Court (ICC) is an independent judicial institution. It is for the ICC Prosecutor to determine who should be charged for alleged war crimes, in situations where the ICC has jurisdiction. The Government does not have and does not intend to have discussions with the ICC on who should be charged in relation to the situation in Ukraine.

Occupied Territories

Baroness Janke: To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking (1) to monitor, and (2) to support, investigations into all potential serious violations of international law in the Occupied Palestinian Territory; and what discussions they have had with government of Israel about the consequences of further violations.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: We repeatedly call on Israel to abide by its obligations under international law, and we have a regular dialogue with Israel on legal issues relating to the occupation. As the occupying power, we urge Israel to fulfil its responsibilities, including ensuring the protection of the civilian population. I [Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon, the Minister of State for the Middle East] made this clear most recently in a meeting with the Israeli chargé d'affaires on July 4.

Department of Health and Social Care

Infant Foods: Labelling

Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle: To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the accuracy and compliance of baby milk powder labels with regulatory requirements.

Lord Markham: Legislation requires that notification be given to the “competent authority” when infant formulae are placed on the market in Great Britain for the first time. The competent authority in this respect means the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care.The Department is centrally coordinating notification forms for all three of England, Scotland, and Wales. Northern Ireland requires separate notification under the requirements of the European Union legislation that is directly applicable there. A copy of the label is required along with any other information that may reasonably be requested to establish compliance. Where areas of potential non-compliance are seen, such as mandatory statements being omitted, these are raised with the company. As each product has a unique label, they are assessed on an individual basis. Enforcement of this legislation in England is the responsibility of local authorities.

Medical Equipment: Coronavirus

Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle: To ask His Majesty's Government what percentage of the overall material and medical equipment installed in Nightingale Hospitals around the country, and specifically in Middlesbrough, has been redirected to (1) other NHS facilities, (2) to social care, or (3) to other uses; and what percentage has been sent to landfill, incineration and for recycling.

Lord Markham: The information requested is not held centrally. A Nightingale hospital was not established in Middlesbrough.NHS England advises that each trust that hosted a Nightingale hospital is responsible for managing the assets and equipment therefrom including beds and medical equipment. Some of these will have been utilised by trusts hosting the Nightingale hospitals. The remaining surplus stock has been collected and made available for national redistribution under the existing warehousing, asset tracking and logistics contracts.Minimal waste will be generated from this process, for example, some stock was perishable and unable to be used beyond use-by dates. Where items for disposal have been identified the responsible organisation will ensure this stock is recycled or used to create an energy source from waste, in compliance with national policy on waste disposal.

Food: Microplastics

The Lord Bishop of St Albans: To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of thedangers of microplastics in food; and what steps they are taking to investigate this.

Lord Markham: The Food Standards Agency (FSA) continues to monitor and assess emerging information concerning microplastics in food. The Committee on Toxicity of Chemicals in Food, Consumer Products and the Environment is an independent scientific committee that provides advice to the Food Standards Agency and other government departments, and is currently considering the issue of microplastics, having previously concluded that the available data was not sufficient for a complete assessment. The FSA has advised that, based on current information, they consider it is unlikely that the presence of these particles in food or drink would cause harm to consumers. However, this will be kept under review as new evidence becomes available.

Obesity

Lord Brooke of Alverthorpe: To ask His Majesty's Government what are the key incentives needed to achieve sustained long-term weight reduction in cases of obesity.

Lord Markham: Local authorities and the National Health Service provide weight management services to support their communities to achieve and maintain a healthier weight. These services incentivise behaviour change, by encouraging the development of sustainable habits and fostering independence and self-managementMaintaining weight loss over the medium and long term is challenging in an environment where high saturated fat, salt and sugar food are readily available, marketed, and cheaper than healthier alternatives. That is why the Government is taking action to help people maintain a healthier weight such as: the introduction of out of home calorie labelling regulations for food sold in large businesses, including restaurants, cafes and takeaways; the introduction of restrictions on the promotion by location of less healthy products in key selling locations in store and online; and working with the food industry to make further progress on reformulation and making healthier choices easier.The Government also launched ‘The Better Health: Rewards’ pilot in February 2023 for adults who live in Wolverhampton. This is an innovative app-based health intervention where participants can download an app, receive a free wearable fitness tracker, and can earn points for completing diet and physical activity challenges which they can redeem for rewards in an in-app store. This pilot is designed to test whether financial incentives can be used to support people to improve their diet and physical activity behaviour.

Rickets

The Lord Bishop of St Albans: To ask His Majesty's Government howmany recorded cases of rickets occurred in each of the past four years; and what evidence they have regarding what is causing the increase in cases.

Lord Markham: NHS England publishes data on hospital admissions in England for rickets. A count of finished admission episodes with a “primary” diagnosis and a “primary or secondary” diagnosis of rickets for the years 2018-19 to 2021-22 is shown in the table below:Financial yearPrimary diagnosisPrimary or secondary diagnosis2018-19684772019-20435042020-21503912021-2253439 Rickets is a condition which mostly affects children and is usually caused by prolonged vitamin D or calcium deficiency. Evidence on the relationship between vitamin D status or vitamin D supplementation and risk of nutritional rickets in children was assessed by the government’s Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition in its report ‘Vitamin D and Health’ (2016).The National Diet and Nutrition Survey reported evidence of low vitamin D status, as indicated by low plasma 25-hydroxy vitamin D concentrations in blood, in all age groups surveyed between 2016 and 2019. 16% of adults aged 19 to 64 years, 13% of adults aged 65 years and over, 19% of children aged 11 to 18 years and 2% of children 4 to 10 years had low vitamin D status (taking account of seasonal variation). A low vitamin D status does not necessarily indicate clinical deficiency.Copies of these reports has previously been placed in the Library but are also attached here.Vitamin D and Health (pdf, 4297.6KB)National Diet and Nutrition Survey (pdf, 1188.5KB)

Electroconvulsive Therapy

The Lord Bishop of St Albans: To ask His Majesty's Government whatassessment they have made of the use of transcranial magnetic stimulation in treating (1) alcoholism, (2) problem gambling, (3) depression, and (4) substance disorders.

Lord Markham: The Department has made no such assessment. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published interventional procedures guidance on repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation for depression (IPG542) in December 2015. A copy of this guidance is attached.NICE found that the procedure showed no major safety concerns and the evidence on its efficacy in the short term was adequate, although the benefits vary for different people. NICE interventional procedures guidance does not consider clinical and cost effectiveness and funding decisions are made by local National Health Service commissioners.Guidance  (pdf, 90.6KB)

Pharmacy: Northern Ireland

Lord Rogan: To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answers byLord Markham on 19 July (HL9282, HL9283 and HL9284), what steps they are taking to protect community pharmacies in Northern Ireland from closure in the continuing absence of a Northern Ireland Executive.

Lord Markham: Community pharmacy is a devolved matter. A fully functioning devolved government is essential to the delivery of necessary healthcare reforms, including effective policies to protect community pharmacies. As an interim support, the Secretary of State has introduced appropriate measures to protect the delivery of all public services and has set a budget that protects spending to address the critical health pressures in Northern Ireland. This budget allocation gives the Northern Ireland Department of Health a total allocation of £7.3 billion, an increase of £20 million above 2022-23.

Malnutrition: Children

The Lord Bishop of St Albans: To ask His Majesty's Government how many recorded diagnoses of malnutrition occurred among children in England in (1) 2019, (2) 2020, (3) 2021, and (4) 2022.

Lord Markham: NHS England has provided a count of Finished Admission Episodes, for patients aged 0-17, by year of admission, with a “primary” or “primary or secondary” diagnosis of malnutrition for the years 2019 to 2022. The following table shows activity in English National Health Service Hospitals and English NHS-commissioned activity in the independent sector: YearPrimary DiagnosisPrimary or Secondary Diagnosis2019384062020473322021393202022 (provisional)52303Source: Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), NHS England

Tobacco: Northern Ireland

Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick: To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have undertaken of the future implementation of the Tobacco and Related Products (Amendment) (Northern Ireland) Regulations 2023.

Lord Markham: A full Impact Assessment has not been prepared for this instrument because the amounts involved on business fall below the threshold for producing one. An internal assessment was made however by The Office for Health Improvements and Disparities (OHID) to help understand the impact.Our internal assessment enabled us to conclude that the use of heated tobacco products is low at around 0.5% of adults in Northern Ireland. They are produced and manufactured outside the United Kingdom by the tobacco industry. The characterising flavour ban will limit the products that can be produced and supply on the Northern Ireland market which may limit the volume of sales.Our assessment also judged that there will be no significant impact on the public sector. Each district council in Northern Ireland will enforce the new requirements. These new requirements are not expected to be a significant burden on district councils, given the low use of heated tobacco products in Northern Ireland.OHID, working with the Department of Health in Northern Ireland, has communicated the proposed changes to the tobacco industry, the Northern Ireland retail representatives, and the relevant enforcement agencies.

Care Homes

The Lord Bishop of St Albans: To ask His Majesty's Government what stepsthey are taking to promote accurate recording of the number of care homes.

Lord Markham: The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is responsible for the accurate recording of the number of care homes as well as all health and adult social care providers that fall within the scope of registration with the CQC within England. A list of all the providers is publicly available on CQC’s website and is updated monthly. This has been the case since 2012, prior to which it was available on request.

Care Workers: Registration

Lord Turnberg: To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to introduce a national registration of care workers and their qualifications.

Lord Markham: There are no current plans to introduce a national register of care workers. As part of our reforms for the adult social care workforce we plan to introduce a verified record of qualifications and training for the care workforce. This will establish a foundation for registration of care workers in future.

Care Workers

Lord Turnberg: To ask His Majesty's Government whatprogress has been made towards the introduction of a care workforce pathway.

Lord Markham: Our call for evidence to inform the development of a new Care Workforce Pathway for adult social care closed on 31 May 2023. We are currently analysing the responses and intend to publish the first part of the Pathway, focused on staff in direct care roles, in autumn 2023. We will work with the sector to implement the Pathway over the following months.

Care Homes: Closures

Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle: To ask His Majesty's Government whatplans they have to deal with the closure of care homes for older people due to rising interest rates.

Lord Markham: Under the Care Act 2014, local authorities are required to ensure that people have a range of high-quality, sustainable, and person-centred care available to them, and that they can access the services that best meet their needs. This includes ensuring that, where providers exit the market, care provision is maintained with minimum disruption. The Government recognises the pressures faced by the adult social care sector, including rising interest rates, and is making available up to £7.5 billion of additional funding over two years to support adult social care and discharge. We expect local authorities to use the additional funding available for social care to go beyond meeting inflationary pressures, including those experienced in 2022/23.

Social Services: Standards

Lord Turnberg: To ask His Majesty's Government whetherinitial reports on performance metrics in social care have been received from local authorities, as was set out as a condition of funding in the White Paper Next Steps to Put People at the Heart of Care,published on 4 April.

Lord Markham: The Government has now received initial reports from all local authorities in England, as part of the £1.4 billion Market Sustainability and Improvement Fund (MSIF) grant conditions.In accordance with the guidance published in March 2023, local authorities can use MSIF flexibly to drive tangible improvements across a range of target areas, to best address local sustainability and improvement needs. These target areas are reducing adult social care waiting times, increasing adult social care workforce capacity and retention, and increasing fee rates paid to adult social care providers. Local authorities must evidence improvement in at least one of the target areas, using Departmental performance metrics provided in the guidance. Improvements will be assessed in local authorities’ final reports, which will be submitted to the Department in May 2024.

Prescriptions: ICT

Lord Willis of Knaresborough: To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to enable prescriptions to be shared electronically between (1) NHS services, and (2) homecare medicines service providers.

Lord Markham: The National Homecare Medicines Committee’s (NHMC) vision for digital transformation, including e-prescribing in homecare, is available in a short video in an online-only format on the YouTube website. The digital subgroup of the NHMC is working with the National Health Service, Electronic Prescribing and Medicines Administration (ePMA) systems vendors and homecare providers to produce an output-based specification for an Electronic Prescribing System (EPS), particularly focusing on the technical aspects of homecare requirements for EPS. This will include interoperable prescribing systems. Any ePMA systems used in secondary care need to be Dictionary of medicines and devices compliant and this applies for homecare medicines too; this is needed to support interoperability.The output-based specification aims to standardise requirements in homecare medicines e-prescribing, accelerating adoption of e-prescribing system development in homecare. This specification is undergoing final review by NHS England before publication by the NHMC.

Prescriptions: ICT

Lord Willis of Knaresborough: To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to improve interoperability of (1) NHS information management systems, and (2) homecare medicines services information management systems.

Lord Markham: An Information Standard Notice (ISN) which puts in place definitions that are to be used when a health professional sends or receives patient medication and allergy/intolerance information, by computer system, between care locations, has been published under section 250 of the Health and Social Care Act 2012.The purpose is to ensure that medication and allergy information is transferred between systems and locations in a machine-readable format. This will be achieved by: transferring medication information using the newest version for the United Kingdom of Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resource, by use of either ‘Medication Codable Concept’ or ‘Medication Resource’ as is most appropriate to the use case; usage of dose syntax to transfer the amount of medication per dose as a simple coded quantity; and transferring allergy/intolerance information using Systematized Nomenclature of Medicine Clinical Terms and dictionary of medicines and devices codes.All clinical IT systems that will be used for prescribing homecare medicines will be required to be compliant with this ISN.

Prescriptions: ICT

Lord Willis of Knaresborough: To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of using paper-based systems for prescribing medicines on the efficacy of homecare medicines services.

Lord Willis of Knaresborough: To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of requirements under the Human Medicines Regulations 2012 (SI 2012/1916) for prescriptions to have either a wet signature or an advanced electronic signature on the efficiency of homecare medicines services.

Lord Markham: An assessment, through a commissioned piece of user-research of homecare paper-based prescribing, was done during the COVID-19 pandemic. NHS England will use the information in this assessment to understand the issues in homecare, as well as to inform future improvement actions, particularly developing and adoption of the Electronic Prescription Service (EPS).No assessment has been made of the impact of requirements under the Human Medicines Regulations 2012. The only advanced electronic signature (AES) is through EPS. Not many e-prescribing systems used in secondary care have the capability to meet this AES requirement.

NHS: Drugs

Baroness Morris of Yardley: To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of (1) the Voluntary Scheme for Branded Medicines Pricing and Access, and (2) the alternative statutory scheme, on the cost of homecare medicines services to the NHS.

Lord Markham: The Voluntary Scheme for Branded Medicines Pricing and Access and the alternative statutory scheme apply to medicines cost and not to service delivery.

Home Office

Radicalism

Lord Pearson of Rannoch: To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer byLord Sharpe of Epsom on 27 June (HL8551), what criteria are used to determine whether groups or individuals have a "far right outlook".

Lord Sharpe of Epsom: The Intelligence & Security Committee’s 2022 report on Extreme Right-Wing Terrorism (ERWT) considers “far-right political outlook” as “views that Western civilisations are under threat from ‘non-native’ people and ideas.”The report categorises ERWT as ‘Cultural Nationalism’, ‘White Nationalism’ and ‘White Supremacism’.

Batley Grammar School: Harassment

Lord Pearson of Rannoch: To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer byLord Sharpe of Epsom on 13 July (HL8940), whether they have taken any action to protect teachers from any threats to their safety made by Islamist groups.

Lord Sharpe of Epsom: The Government remains focused on supporting those who stand up to extremism.We keep our response to extremism under constant review to ensure it is best placed to tackle the evolving threat.  Alongside the police, we regularly review potential threats to ensure as are doing everything we can to protect our communities.Advice on the safety of individuals is a matter for the police.

Independent Anti-slavery Commissioner: Public Appointments

Baroness Hamwee: To ask His Majesty's Government when they expect to appoint an Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner.

Lord Sharpe of Epsom: The role of the Anti-Slavery Commissioner (IASC) as set out in the 2015 Modern Slavery Act is to encourage good practice in the prevention, detection, investigation and prosecution of slavery and human trafficking offences and the identification of victims.The Home Secretary recognises the importance of the IASC and had launched a new open competition to recruit for this role on the 23 February 2023, the process for which is now at an advanced stage.

Abortion: Demonstrations

Baroness Sugg: To ask His Majesty's Government when safe access zones around abortion clinics will be implemented, following the granting of Royal Assent to the Public Order Act on 2 May 2023.

Lord Sharpe of Epsom: The timescales for commencing the new Section 9 offence of interference with access to, or provision of, abortion services will be confirmed in due course.

Drugs: Misuse

Lord Butler of Brockwell: To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer byLord Sharpe of Epsom on 24 July (HL9391), whether the legislation needed to enable prescribingof controlled drugs by paramedic independent prescribers is capable of being made by statutory instrument; and if so, what is the reason for their delay in making it.

Lord Sharpe of Epsom: I reaffirm that the Government intends to legislate to enable prescribing of controlled drugs by paramedic independent prescribers alongside other changes relating to use of controlled drugs in healthcare by podiatrists, therapeutic radiographer independent prescribers, and those acting under Patient Group Directions.The changes are capable of being made by a Statutory Instrument and we will bring forward legislation as soon as possible, but this will remain subject to Parliamentary procedure.

Fires: Temperature

Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth: To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the state of preparedness to deal with bush fires in hot weather.

Lord Sharpe of Epsom: The Home Office works closely with other departments and key stakeholders including Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the Department for Levelling Up Housing and Communities to mitigate the risk of wildfire as set out in the Wildfire Framework for England. The framework can be found at Wildfire Framework for England | Fire England.Each Fire and Rescue Authority is required to plan for the foreseeable risks in their area, through their Integrated Risk Management Plan (IRMP), having regard to other key local responders, the top local and national risks, and the communities which they serve.The government recognises the risk that wildfire presents for landscapes and communities and recently wrote to Local Resilience Forums to share lessons and recommendations from the recent 2022 wildfire season. Further actions are set out in the third National Adaptation Plan, which was recently published: Third National Adaptation Programme (NAP3) - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)The Home Office maintains regular engagement with National Bodies including the National Fire Chiefs Council and England and Wales Wildfire Forum to monitor and review sector led improvements to wildfire response and mitigation.Third National Adaptation Programme (NAP3) (pdf, 314.8KB)

Department for Business and Trade

New Businesses: Government Assistance

Lord Taylor of Warwick: To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to support the growth of start-up businesses.

The Earl of Minto: The Government provides extensive support to businesses through our Help to Grow Management, Business Support Helpline and Growth Hubs. Businesses can also access government-backed financial support from the British Business Bank. The Start Up Loans Company provides loans and support to new entrepreneurs, including a year of free business mentoring for successful applicants. Since the Start Up Loans programme was launched in 2012, over 105,000 loans have been delivered with an aggregate value of more than £1bn (average loan size of £9,547), as of June 2023.

Small Businesses

Lord Taylor of Warwick: To ask His Majesty's Government whatplans they have to ensure that the interests of small and medium-sized enterprises are taken into account in policymaking discussions and decisions.

The Earl of Minto: Government provides extensive support to SMEs and places them at the heart of policy making. When developing policies, departments should consider whether micro, small and medium-sized businesses can be exempt from proposed regulations. To test that this is being done, the Better Regulation Framework requires a Small and Micro Business Assessment (SaMBA) in department’s impact assessments. The Department continues to engage with SMEs and representative organisations, for example through the SME Action Group chaired by Minister Hollinrake, to ensure business voices are heard, and to help create the right conditions for businesses to scale up both domestically and internationally.

Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership

Baroness Hayman of Ullock: To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the likely impact of the UK’s accession to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership on (1) domestic food producers, and (2) the animal welfare practices associated with imported food products.

Lord Johnson of Lainston: The Impact Assessment for the UK's accession to the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) was published on 17th July 2022 and outlines sectoral impacts. The Government has negotiated a balanced agreement, with significant opportunities for UK agri-food businesses and which also has strong protections for the UK's sensitive agricultural products.

Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership

Baroness Hayman of Ullock: To ask His Majesty's Government what engagement they undertook with representatives of domestic food producers prior to taking the decision to accede to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership.

Lord Johnson of Lainston: The government has ensured that UK food producers have been able to express their views on the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific partnership (CPTPP) through frequent engagement with the agricultural sector.We have regularly spoken to representatives of domestic food producers, including the Food and Drink Association, National Farmers' Union, the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board, the Agricultural Industries Confederation and the British Poultry Council.The Department has also hosted roundtable events specifically for agricultural stakeholders, further giving them a forum to provide perspectives on CPTPP.Agricultural stakeholders were also able to contribute to the consultation exercise on CPTPP, which received almost 150,000 responses. The Government's response to that consultation was published in June 2021 at the outset of negotiations.

Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities

Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities: Travellers

Baroness Whitaker: To ask His Majesty's Government what progress they have made in implementing the recommendations of the Fifth Opinion on the United Kingdom of the Council of Europe’s Advisory Committee on the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities in respect of the Gypsy, Traveller and Roma communities.

Baroness Scott of Bybrook: The UK Government acknowledges the report from the Advisory Committee. We are studying its recommendations and will publish our response in due course.

Department for Work and Pensions

Families: Disadvantaged

Lord Farmer: To ask His Majesty's Government how many parents have been directly supported since the start of phase two of the Reducing Parental Conflictprogramme through tested interventionsthat are proven to help parents who (1) want to stay together, and (2) are separating or separated.

Lord Farmer: To ask His Majesty's Government what is the breakdown of spending by local authorities of Reducing Parental Conflict grants, in terms of matters such as internal human and other resources, training, and direct delivery to parents; and what are local evaluations showing is the impact of the way the grant is allocated locally.

Viscount Younger of Leckie: This phase of the Reducing Parental Conflict (RPC) programme (2022-25) focuses on supporting and funding Local Authorities (LAs) to integrate RPC into their family help offer. As such, the programme does not directly put parents through RPC interventions, these decisions are instead taken at a local level.LAs receive RPC funding through the RPC Local Grant, which makes up to £19m available from 2022-25. In the first year of grant funding, LAs have directly supported around 18,000 parents, and over 30,000 training places for staff. Further details on LA breakdowns of grant funding have been appended to the end of this PQ.In the first year of the RPC Local Grant, LAs had spent £159,000 of their Local Grant funding to undertake evaluation activities. As we are at the start of the second year of a three-year grant process, this work is ongoing. There are however positive findings emerging from local evaluation work. For instance, through our partnered working with ‘Foundations’, these have been published on their website.LAs are not required to provide data on whether those parents are together or separating/separated. The forthcoming Reducing Parental Conflict evaluation reports, announced on 19th July, will provide further detail on the effects of support on the relationships between intact parents and separating/separated parents. RPC Local Grant Year 1Activity TypeLA SpendTraining£3,430,000Delivery£1,260,000Co-ordination£2,520,000Admin£400,000Evaluation£159,000 To Note:The information in this PQ is derived from internal management information and is not quality assured to Official Statistics standards.As this is ongoing Management Information, derived from 134 LAs, small amounts of additional resource which LAs have committed beyond their Grant Funding has not been disaggregated from the figures, as such totals may slightly exceed overall allocation in some places and the final reported figures will differ.